next chapter’s theoretical framework section 3.3.

The banking privatisation programme was initiated to restructure the bureaucratic organisational
culture and to improve human resource practices (Mirza, 1995). The poor management practices
such as overstaffing, high power distance23, lack of customer care have remained the
characteristics of state-owned organisations of Pakistan (Shaista E Khilji, 2003). However, a
recent study on the banking sector suggests that the privatisation resulted in the development of
business and HR strategy and helped to improve IT systems and human resource platforms of the
Pakistani banks (Memon, 2015), and subsequently strong competition among banks improved
the standard of customer service. Moreover, two successive golden handshake schemes in 1999
and 2002 created a skills gap in large banks and these banks started to employ fresh talent to fill
that skill gap (Memon, 2015). The new talent were academically more qualified, bearing a more
modern and updated profile in their approach. However, more qualified and talented employees
may have higher expectations from the employer and their level of engagement may vary
depending on their job satisfaction and organisational support they
23 High power distance is a bureaucratic type of management approach that is a path dependent procedure of British
legacy; it exists in most of the Pakistani public-sector organisations that keeps employees away from higher
management and does not allow employees to express their views.
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receive at the workplace. Therefore, the Pakistani banking sector provides an interesting
opportunity for examining the impact of HR policy and practice on an employee’s attitude and
organisational performance. The relationship between organisational strategy, employee attitude
and organisational performance can be examined through intended organisational values and
actual talent management practices (Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007). This means what strategic
approach an organisation has towards its talent in terms of their skills/abilities and motivational
opportunities, and how realistically managerial staff support these practices in actual practice for
higher performance. The organisational strategy and values can be mediated by senior leadership
of the organisation whose role is to create a powerful, cohesive and motivating organisational
environment to support the organisational vision, mission and values. The Pakistani context in
this regard is entirely different and shapes particular organisational values and relationships that
are path dependent in nature and scope. The next section covers organisational culture of
Pakistani organisations.
2.7 Organisational culture of Pakistan
Pakistan has cultural diversity where about 20 languages are spoken, but the most common
languages are Urdu, Panjabi, Sindhi, Baluchi and Pashto.24 In the effort of understanding
characteristics of Pakistani organisational culture that is shaped by wider social, historical and
political factors, this section first attempts to examine what is the national culture of Pakistan and
how it shapes beliefs, values and organisational relationships because organisational culture and
work-related values and beliefs are highly influenced by national culture (Khilji, 2003). National
culture has been defined as ‘…culture is a product, is historical, includes ideas, patterns and
values, is selective, is learned; is based upon symbols, and is an abstraction from behaviour and
the products of behaviour’ (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952, p.157). Different scholars in cross
cultural studies have suggested different cultural dimensions. For example, Hofstede (1998)
suggested four cultural dimensions on the basis of his study conducted on fifty nations: power
distance, individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. However, Tayeb (2001) argues
that national culture cannot be just simplified and categorised into boxes covering some nations
and excluding others and needs to take account of sub-cultures and different groups in the given
culture. This statement seems to be true in terms of the
24 Otherregular spoken languages are Brahui in Baluchistan, Hindiki in Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa, Saraiki in Panjab,
and Shina in northern and tribal areas (US Library, 2013).
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Pakistani context, because as discussed previously Pakistani society is based on different ethnic
groups and cultures. Khilji (2001) describes Pakistani culture in the light of Hofstede’s cultural
dimensions and argues that it looks like the collectivist, high-power distance, high uncertainty of
avoidance and in the mid of masculinity and femininity index. Arguably, it is high on the
masculinity scale and these differences are path dependent learned in early childhood in the
Pakistani society so that the child may learn that the female is weak and needs protection at
every stage of life and that is a big psychological barrier that keeps them down in both
independent professional careers and their participation in organisational business culture.
The Pakistani society also protects the path dependent principles of respect for elders and
discourages children to question elders or authority. This means there is no question from elders
or authority, such practice has implications at the workplace that creates high- power distance
between employee and authority (Khilji, 2001). These hierarchal differences indicate the colonial
legacy which divided the society into various feudal lords and elite groups. In this connection,
Khilji (2003) depicts the national culture of Pakistan as an amalgam of four different factors: i.e.
Religion-Islam, Indian-origins, British colonial inheritance and American influences that
continue to have an impact on organisational relationships and practices. Khilji describes these
four factors separately as follows.
Firstly, although the attitude of Pakistanis towards Islam cannot be generalised, assumptions
about religion are prominent in the minds of people due to the belief that Muslims and Indians
were two separate nations based on their religion or Islamic cultural heritage. Subsequently, the
initiative of Islamisation of socio and economic system by General Zia-ul-Haq has influenced the
organisational culture of organisations. For example, Islamisation of macro institutions (e.g.
facilitating Islamic practices within the society) extends to a certain level within the
organisations such as the availability of a separate prayer room, whereby employees can pray
during the office hours, an extended lunch break for Friday prayer and reducing office working
hours during ‘RAMADHAN’ the month of fasting (Khan and Panarina, 2017; Khilji, 2003).
Apart from this, many Islamic banks have been opened in the country that might be the
consequence of the Islamisation programme of General Zia. Religion shapes the beliefs and
values of a collective society or group that is further divided in the form of particular faith, creed
or community. Arguably, these groups favour or help each other on the basis of a particular
religious faith and caste in the work setting. Secondly, the people of Pakistan had been
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living under Indian influence for many years and fundamental customs and traditions in
Pakistani society are similar to that of the Indian culture. For example, the social set-up of the
family (e.g. obligations to the family in terms of financial and normal practices and the role
expected by men and women) in Pakistan is the same as in Indian culture. In this system, there is
a pattern of dependence on elders which permeates all human contacts and people carry a strong
need for dependence and security. For that reason, life exists within a group/community and
compliance to this group has a great value (Lyon, 1993 cited by Khilji, 2003). Hence, members
of the group feel obliged to look after each other. This implies a social exchange relationship
within society and organisation. In the work setting, they can possibly oblige each other at the
time of promotions, appointments, transfers or other incentives on the management side and
overtime, extra role behaviour on the employee side, because such practice exists as a path
dependent procedure in Pakistani organisational cultures. For example, Khan and Panarina
(2017) describe Pakistani national culture as collectivist with extended family-centred and argues
that the political or family affiliation of the person with the organisation has been used as the
criteria for recruitment and selection in some organisational cultures. Thirdly, Khilji talks about
the British legacy and observed that British rulers who maintained the colony on the sub-
continent for more than a century are responsible for creating an elite class (feudal and civil
servant) system in the society. As a result, the best schooling and other modern facilities are
available only for the elite whilst, the majority of the public are still away from basic necessities
of life and those in power take decisions with little or no involvement of the wider community or
subordinates. The effects of such elitism may be found in organisational culture.
Lastly, American influence on Pakistani politics and their involvement in various economic and
foreign policies since the creation of Pakistan creates exposure to American management
ideology in the selective business schools and at the workplace. Most leading Pakistani institutes
follow an American syllabus at school and university level. That is the reason graduates of these
institutions have a tendency towards modern American work-related values. Pakistani managers
want to follow the American management style that is perceived as more progressive and results
oriented (Khilji, 1995; Zakaria, 1994). Following this background, it could be said that Pakistani
national culture is the mixture of three different elements including social, religious and Western
thoughts that might clash with each other in certain situations but may be considered as the
dimensions of Pakistani national culture. Organisational culture has been defined in many
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different ways in the literature but the most commonly used definition is the way we do things
around here (Lundy and Cowling, 1996). This implies that organisational culture refers to
something like values and beliefs that organisational members share with each other at the work
setting. Generally, every organisation tries to develop and maintain its values for the purpose of
directing and guiding the behaviour of employees in line with business plans and propositions.
However, Khilji (2003) argues that neither HRM nor culture is a product of the organisation but
both come from employees who are influenced by institutions such as organisations, family,
education, political and economic institutions that have great influence on the psychological
characteristics and personality of individuals. In a similar vein, Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov
(1991) and Tayeb (1995) argue that the effect of social exposure early in life determines the
values of employees and the fundamental culture of the organisation. As a result, macro
institutions systematically influence the organisational structure, hence organisational processes
and practices reflect typical national pattern. Thus, success of HRM practices in a particular
country is not sure in another culture (Khilji, 2003). Following this line of reasoning, it is argued
that Pakistani organisational culture may be very different and it is necessary to consider what
may be acceptable in that context. Accordingly, it could be argued that the concept of talent
management that is based on the Western philosophy to bring up high potential candidates ahead
for getting a competitive advantage might be viewed as an invitation to open disagreement in
Pakistani organisational culture because, the fair recruitment and selection of high potential
candidates may not serve the objectives of elite members of the society.
Khilji (2003) observed that Pakistani organisations were found to have little faith in employees’
intelligence and capability, whilst employees distrust their management’s promises because these
are rarely implemented. Following this point, it could be said that management might keep their
promise when they see any outstanding performance that is only possible when employees are
skilled, committed and will demonstrate extra role behaviour in the work setting. That is why no
any HR philosophy can be viewed in isolation without considering the culture of the
organisation. Khilji (2003) states that due to the importance of cultural sensitivity, managers are
advised to take national culture into account when developing HR policies and practices in order
to ensure survival and success through social legitimacy by reflecting common cultural values
and beliefs. Scholars including Ali (2012); Khilji (2001, 2003); Memon (2015) repeatedly state
that Pakistan after the partition from India got a massive public sector that was a hallmark of
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passive management culture borrowed from the British colonial era; that is, bureaucratic,
centralised, and non-responsive to the employee needs. These cultural values system forms the
path dependent foundations of organisational culture. Bos-Nehles et al. (2013) argue about the
quality of HRM practice a company has in place that applies to take full advantage of human
resources through continual improvements of skills/abilities and motivational processes will
maximise the effect of organisational performance. Therefore, the following section discovers
HRM in Pakistani perspective.
2.7.1 HRM in Pakistani organisations
As discussed, Pakistan has a history of specific legacies inherited through the colonial era such
as colonial administrative practices, military influence, social traditions which shape
organisational relationships and practices. This section discusses the importance of human
resources in the organisation because it is people that can plan, design, implement and sustain
organisational performance (Senyucel, 2009). In this connection, a simplistic but rather vital
point can be highlighted that recruitment and selection of employees is considered to be one of
the most important functions of HR practice; it must be fair, impartial and unbiased (Banfield
and Kay, 2012; Senyucel, 2009) for developing and maintaining employee and employer
relationships within organisations. However, before looking at the concept of HRM in Pakistani
organisations, it is important to understand the nature and scope of HRM and how it looks like in
the Pakistani context. Although the concept of HRM has been described differently since the
beginning of modern people management theories such as personnel management, industrial
relations, employee relations and human resource management (Carbery and Cross, 2013). HRM
in its broader sense is to highlight the importance of empowering people to assist the
organisation in the achievement of its strategic objectives. In this connection, people are viewed
as an asset rather than cost, and a source of competitive advantage (Carbery & Cross, 2013;
Pfeffer